Hunger for victory remains as Serena Williams claims 12th major title

Published on Sunday 31 January 2010 22:48

SERENA Williams jetted out of Australia yesterday with a suitcase full of trophies and her heart set on stockpiling even more silverware.

The 28-year-old American won the women's singles title for a fifth time, teamed up with sister Venus to win the doubles for a fourth, and has no plans of stopping.

"I don't see an end now," she said after her 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Belgian Justine Henin. "I feel like as long as I'm happy and I want to do it and I enjoy being out there (I'll keep playing).

"Sometimes I think it gets a little bit redundant but I really love playing the slams."

Williams' next major goal is the French Open, her least successful grand slam event. She won on the red clay of Paris in 2002 but has not won there since.

"I only have one but that's not bad, if at the end of the day that's all I have at least I have it," she said. "My whole goal is just to get fit because I plan on playing singles and doubles at Paris. So, if I do that, and I'm fit enough, then maybe I have a chance."

Williams now has 12 grand slam singles titles, joining Billie Jean King in equal sixth place on the all-time list behind Margaret Smith Court (24), Steffi Graf (22), Helen Wills Moody (19), Martina Navratilova (18) and Chris Evert (18).

Although she has no plans to retire, Williams said it was unlikely she would catch all if any of the women in front of her – so she has set her sights on the men. Pete Sampras is the leading American man with 14 while Roger Federer is the overall men's leader with 16.

"I just want to be with Roger. So Roger, can you please let me catch up?" Williams joked.

"I was trying to hunt him down, but the guy keeps winning. I'm like, dude, stop winning. The guy is amazing."

Williams also wants to start using her success on the court to help the less fortunate. She has opened a school in Africa and plans to teach a class there in March, and launched her 92k Mission to raise money for the survivors of the Haiti earthquake. The fund was so-named because $92,000 was the amount of money she was fined by the International Tennis Federation for her foul-mouthed attack on a line judge at last year's US Open.

Williams, who is also on a two-year probation, was on her best behaviour in Australia but said she hoped people would forgive her for her outburst in New York. "I just want to keep people aware that it's okay to make a mistake but learn from it," she said.

"One moment doesn't make one person's career. It's all about the moments you put together. The fine was a little bit exorbitant but that was that and it turned out to be a big thing."

&#149 An exhausted Laura Robson of Britain lost the Australian Open girls' final to Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova 6-1, 7-6 on Saturday.

The 16-year-old, who partnered Andy Murray to the Hopman Cup final before the year's first grand slam, had also reached the quarter-finals of the women's doubles main draw with Australia's Sally Peers. "Starting with Perth, getting to the final there, then quarters of doubles, then getting to the final here – I've played a lot of matches," Robson said. "I'm just a bit exhausted with it, everything. So I think now it's just good to go home."

It was the second successive year that Robson, who beat Pliskova's identical twin sister Kristyna in the semi-finals, had lost the Melbourne Park final after she was beaten by Russia's Ksenia Pervak last year. In the first set, the left-hander was unable to cope with the tall Czech's groundstrokes, making a series of errors. She improved her game in the second, sending it to a tie-break, but Pliskova then raced to a 4-1 lead and sealed the title on her second match point when Robson double-faulted.